How two postseason-bound pitchers accomplished something that no one has done in over a decade

Shohei Ohtani is a superstar. He's the face of baseball. He's potentially the most talented baseball player we've ever seen. So it makes sense that his quest for the offensive triple crown (batting average, home runs, RBI) was a big story. Ohtani fell short of the milestone, but meanwhile, two MLB pitchers both accomplished the pitching version of the triple crown. Tarik Skubal of the Tigers and Chris Sale of the Braves led the AL and NL, respectively, in wins, ERA, and strikeouts.

No player has done this in a full season since Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw both accomplished the feat in 2011. (Shane Bieber did in a 60-game 2020 season.)

Both players are postseason-bound, as the Tigers and Braves each snuck into the playoffs. Skubal will pitch Game 1 in Detroit's Wild Card series against Houston, but Sale will miss Atlanta's Wild Card series against San Diego with back spasms, a brutal loss for the Braves, and an awful break for Sale, who will take home the NL Cy Young but has been plagued with injury troubles for years.

Tarik Skubal and Chris Sale posted eerily similar stat lines

If you replaced these pitchers with each other, their respective teams would have had virtually the same seasons. Skubal ended the season 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA, 228 strikeouts, and 192.0 innings pitched. Sale posted an 18-3 record with a 2.38 ERA, 225 strikeouts and 177.2 innings pitched.

Both hard-throwing lefties, these two pitchers are on opposite ends of their careers. When Sale entered the MLB in 2010, Skubal was probably playing summer ball for his middle school. Over a decade later, both have accomplished something that no MLB pitcher has done since Sale's sophomore season with the Chicago White Sox, back when he was still coming out of the bullpen.

Detroit and Atlanta needed every bit of production from these two

Skubal's Tigers grabbed the final AL Wild Card spot, finishing just one game above the Seattle Mariners. And Sale's Braves made it even closer than that, tying with New York and Arizona for the last NL Wild Card spot, reaching the postseason thanks to a tiebreaker.

Often, the pitcher who leads the MLB in wins is the best pitcher on a tremendous offensive team, but that's not the case here. Skubal and Sale grinded for these triple crowns, and let's hope we get to see both at some point during the playoffs.